Forum Post: Tonight, NYC discussion: on new pamphlet “Can Income Redistribution Rescue Capitalism?"

On Monday, September 16, Marxist-Humanist Initiative (MHI) will host a public discussion of Andrew Kliman’s just-published pamphlet, “Can Income Redistribution Rescue Capitalism?,” which challenges Monthly Review’s account of the latest capitalist economic crisis. The claims made by the Monthly Review school have dominated the U.S. Left’s thinking for decades, but the pamphlet argues that its account of the crisis, and others that similarly attribute the crisis to rising income inequality, are riddled with a great many serious deficiencies – factual, theoretical, and political. The pamphlet suggests that the crisis is instead rooted in the decades-long decline in profitability and associated problems within capitalist production. What is at stake is whether the prevalent Left goal of income redistribution could actually solve the current economic crisis and prevent the recurrence of similar crises. Before embracing such notions, it would do us all good to carefully scrutinize the factual and theoretical claims that underlie them.

Open discussion will follow presentations by the author and Brendan Cooney.

The meeting will take place between 7 and 9 p.m. in Room 403 of Pearl Studios, 500 8th Avenue (between 35th and 36th Streets), Manhattan, New York City. People outside of New York City who wish to view a video event will find it in the coming days at www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org.

MHI requests that participants in the discussion purchase the pamphlet and/or make a donation. The pamphlet is available now for $8, plus $2 shipping in the U.S. It can be purchased on our literature page, or by writing to MHI, P.O. Box 414, Planetarium Station, New York, NY 10024, or by calling MHI at 1 (888) 579-2245.

Event info: http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/philosophy-organization/sept-16-discusion-new-mhi-pamphlet-on-monthly-review-school.html https://www.facebook.com/events/633157153382515/

Readings from the pamphlet include:

"More Misused Wage Data from “Monthly Review”: The Overaccumulation of a Surplus of Errors" http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/economic-crisis/more-misused-wage-data-from-monthly-review-the-overaccumulation-of-a-surplus-of-errors.html

“The 99%” and “the 1%” … of What?" http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/economic-crisis/%E2%80%9Cthe-99%E2%80%9D-and-%E2%80%9Cthe-1%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%A6-of-what.html